Though calling itself "The Bloody Seventh" after only a few minor
skirmishes, the Seventh West Virginia Infantry earned its nickname many
times over during the course of the Civil War. Fighting in more battles
and suffering more losses than any other West Virginia regiment, the
unit was the most embattled Union regiment in the most divided state in
the war. Its story, as it unfolds in this book, is a key chapter in the
history of West Virginia, the only state created as a direct result of
the Civil War. It is also the story of the citizen soldiers, most of
them from Appalachia, caught up in the bloodiest conflict in American
history.
The Seventh West Virginia fought in the major campaigns in the eastern
theater, from Winchester, Antietam, and Fredericksburg to
Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and Petersburg. Weaving military, social,
and political history, The Seventh West Virginia Infantry details
strategy, tactics, battles, campaigns, leaders, and the travails of the
rank and file. It also examines the circumstances surrounding events,
mundane and momentous alike such as the soldiers' views on the
Emancipation Proclamation, West Virginia Statehood, and Lincoln's
re-election. The product of decades of research, the book uses
statistical analysis to profile the Seventh's soldiers from a
socio-economic, military, medical, and personal point of view; even as
its authors consult dozens of primary sources, including soldiers'
living descendants, to put a human face on these "sons of the
mountains." The result is a multilayered view, unique in its scope and
depth, of a singular Union regiment on and off the Civil War
battlefield--its beginnings, its role in the war, and its place in
history and memory.
